Deduce #35: The gardens — the solution

The Deduce puzzle from September 18, 2026, worked through clue by clue: 8 clues, 4 rounds of crossing off, and no guessing anywhere.

The puzzle

Four people — Vic, Cleo, Omar and Lena — and three things to work out about each: their flower, gate and garden. The clues only ever rule things out.

1. Cleo is not the one by the stone gate.
2. Cleo is in a lower-numbered garden than the one by the willow gate.
3. The one by the willow gate is exactly 2 gardens after the dahlias grower.
4. Omar is not the roses grower.
5. The one by the stone gate is the one in garden 4.
6. Vic is the one by the willow gate.
7. The poppies grower is exactly 3 gardens after the one by the oak gate.
8. Omar is the one by the oak gate.

The walkthrough

A round is one pass over the clues. Each round applies what the last one settled; every step below is an elimination the clues force, in the order a solver would take them.

Round 1

Start with every possibility open, and take the clues in order.

Clue 1, “Cleo is not the one by the stone gate”: stone comes off Cleo.

Clue 2, “Cleo is in a lower-numbered garden than the one by the willow gate”: willow comes off Cleo; garden 6 comes off Cleo.

Clue 4, “Omar is not the roses grower”: roses comes off Omar.

Clue 5, “The one by the stone gate is the one in garden 4”: garden 4 comes off Cleo.

Clue 6, “Vic is the one by the willow gate”: willow comes off Omar and Lena. That settles it: Vic’s gate is willow.

Clue 7, “The poppies grower is exactly 3 gardens after the one by the oak gate”: poppies comes off Cleo.

Clue 8, “Omar is the one by the oak gate”: oak comes off Cleo and Lena. That settles it: Cleo’s gate is pine and Omar’s gate is oak.

Round 2

Go back over the clues with the new facts in hand.

Pine is Cleo’s, so it comes off Lena. That settles it: Lena’s gate is stone.

Clue 2, “Cleo is in a lower-numbered garden than the one by the willow gate”: garden 3 comes off Vic.

Clue 3, “The one by the willow gate is exactly 2 gardens after the dahlias grower”: dahlias comes off Vic; garden 4 comes off Vic.

Clue 5, “The one by the stone gate is the one in garden 4”: garden 4 comes off Omar. That settles it: Lena is in garden 4.

Clue 7, “The poppies grower is exactly 3 gardens after the one by the oak gate”: poppies comes off Omar and Lena; garden 5 comes off Vic and Omar; garden 6 comes off Omar. That settles it: Vic is in garden 6 and Omar is in garden 3.

Round 3

Go back over the clues with the new facts in hand.

Nobody but Vic can still have poppies, so Vic’s flower is poppies.

garden 3 is Omar’s, so it comes off Cleo. That settles it: Cleo is in garden 5.

Clue 3, “The one by the willow gate is exactly 2 gardens after the dahlias grower”: dahlias comes off Cleo and Omar. That settles it: Omar’s flower is tulips.

Round 4

Go back over the clues with the new facts in hand.

Tulips is Omar’s, so it comes off Cleo and Lena. That settles it: Cleo’s flower is roses.

Nobody but Lena can still have dahlias, so Lena’s flower is dahlias.

The answer

Previous: Deduce #34 (Thu, Sep 17) · Next: Deduce #36 (Sat, Sep 19)

About Deduce

Deduce is Noggin’s daily logic grid: four people, three things to work out about each, and clues that never hand you an answer. Every puzzle has exactly one solution and can be finished by crossing off alone. How to play Deduce, or play today’s.